Please help me welcome
Lúcia Soares. I can't find a blog link for Lucia. Thank you for stopping by!
I experimented with making popcorn garlands the other night. I used the styrofoam that is made up of little balls. I broke those into smaller irregularly shaped pieces and then strung them. I alternated three pieces of "popcorn" with a cranberry colored bead. It would look better if I could make the popcorn pieces smaller but they tore when I threaded through them if they were smaller. Overall, I'm happy with the experiment. I need to find a much smaller needle before I try again, though.
The popcorn garland on a small tree.
Magnolia Way got a much more elegant Christmas tree yesterday. The tree itself was made from green chenille stems (both regular and the ones with fluffy bumps.) I formed branches from the stems and glued them to a piece of dowel that I pre-painted brown. I used one of the bumps to make the tree top and glued it into place. Then I started at the bottom and worked up the tree, making the branches gradually smaller. The larger branches have 3 smaller pieces of chenille twisted around them to make the branches. The middle branches have two of the smaller pieces, the upper have just one, and the topmost row has no extra pieces twisted around them. I alternated rows of the bumpy chenille with rows of the plain chenille stems. The bottom row has 5 branches of bumpy chenille, then a row of 4 branches of plain chenille, next a row of 5 bumpy chenille branches and another row of 4 plain. The next row had 4 branches of bumpy chenille, then a row of 4 branches of plain. The last row was 3 of the bumps with no cross branches. The number of rows depends upon how full you want your tree and how tall the piece of dowel used is.
After the tree was assembled and dried I decorated it with lots of handmade little ornaments. Adding the little cross branches to the tree gives you a lot of places for ornaments, just like a real tree. I've read several different techniques for making bead ornaments but my favorite way is using jewelry bead pins. They have a flat head that holds most beads in place. If the larger bead pulls through I just use a smaller bead at the bottom. I put a small bead on the top to represent the ornament cap and trim the excess pin, leaving enough to form into a hanging loop. Then you just slide the loop over the branch.
This is a chenille stem tree I made 17 years ago. It is in the dollhouse that represents my real house. Unfortunately, the real house does not have a wonderful stone fireplace like the dollhouse does, lol.
I hope all of this makes sense. If anyone wants to try the tree or ornaments and needs clarification you can comment or email me.
I found some sparkly white pipe cleaners recently and thought they'd make a cool Christmas tree. I used the same method as the tutorial I posted last December. Then I made all the red ornaments to decorate it. I also made another silver tree with ornaments. Both are in my etsy shop.
This turned out so well that I'm gonna have to make one to keep, too. :0) This one will be listed tomorrow in my etsy shop. The ornaments and tree skirt go with it.
The tree skirt is based on one from the 50s that I saw in a photo. I made all of the ornaments and the tree topper is a shank button so all I had to do was slip the shank loop over the top of the tree. Cool!
I really don't recommend doing it backwards like I did but after the tree was all decorated I decided to borrow some of Santa's outdoor lights to put on this tree. ($3 at Wal-Mart in the Christmas village aisle.) They are battery powered. The green gift you see to the left is the battery box. I decoupaged wrapping paper on the sides, back and non-wired end. The switch side and the end with the wires were left alone. The box can be positioned so that those parts don't show and the battery box looks like a large gift under your tree.
I decorated this tree as a gift for a friend. It's just a traditional tree with assorted ornaments "collected over the years." Other than the icicles which were cut from a garland, I made everything. Now that you've all seen 3 trees all decorated differently I can't wait to see what some of you do!
I also made this wreath for my friend.
Continue to work your way up the tree. As you near the top, make the branches smaller. These smaller branches will not need cross branches.
The finished tree. Once it dries you can position the branches the way you wish and decorate your tree. This is not an original idea. This is just the way I make them now based on some instructions I found years ago. I do not know who to credit with the original tutorial. I think this makes a very realistic scale tree. Please let me see photos if you make one, too. :-)
Spread glue on the trunk about 1/2 inch up from the bottom. Curl the ends of the branches and glue onto the trunk. Space the 5 branches evenly around the tree.
Cut 4 branches from the straight pipe cleaner. Cut 3 sizes of cross branches for each of the 4 branches.
Twist the cross branches onto the main branches.
Curl the ends of the branches and glue them onto the trunk spacing them evenly around the tree.
Continue to work your way up the tree, making the branches shorter as you go. Alternate straight pipe cleaner rows with bumpy rows. When you are only putting 4 branches in a row, you can use a longer section of the pipe cleaner and make a branch at each end. Bend the piece in half, glue into place on the tree and twist to hold into position.
Supplies needed: length of dowel (diameter isn't really important as it will be covered anyway); small container to "plant" the tree in; pipe cleaners/chenille stems in green - both regular and bumpy; scissors, tacky glue (I used Fast Grab); stain pen or paint in brown for the trunk
Paint the dowel. It doesn't have to be perfect as most of it will be covered.
Glue the dowel into the planter.
Trim a section of the bumpy chenille for the tree top and glue into place. Cut 5 bumps and cross branches of straight chenille in 3 lengths for each of the branches.
Twist the cross branches on to the main branches.
Please help me welcome Lúcia Soares. I can't find a blog link for Lucia. Thank you for stopping by!
I experimented with making popcorn garlands the other night. I used the styrofoam that is made up of little balls. I broke those into smaller irregularly shaped pieces and then strung them. I alternated three pieces of "popcorn" with a cranberry colored bead. It would look better if I could make the popcorn pieces smaller but they tore when I threaded through them if they were smaller. Overall, I'm happy with the experiment. I need to find a much smaller needle before I try again, though.
The popcorn garland on a small tree.
Magnolia Way got a much more elegant Christmas tree yesterday. The tree itself was made from green chenille stems (both regular and the ones with fluffy bumps.) I formed branches from the stems and glued them to a piece of dowel that I pre-painted brown. I used one of the bumps to make the tree top and glued it into place. Then I started at the bottom and worked up the tree, making the branches gradually smaller. The larger branches have 3 smaller pieces of chenille twisted around them to make the branches. The middle branches have two of the smaller pieces, the upper have just one, and the topmost row has no extra pieces twisted around them. I alternated rows of the bumpy chenille with rows of the plain chenille stems. The bottom row has 5 branches of bumpy chenille, then a row of 4 branches of plain chenille, next a row of 5 bumpy chenille branches and another row of 4 plain. The next row had 4 branches of bumpy chenille, then a row of 4 branches of plain. The last row was 3 of the bumps with no cross branches. The number of rows depends upon how full you want your tree and how tall the piece of dowel used is.
This is a chenille stem tree I made 17 years ago. It is in the dollhouse that represents my real house. Unfortunately, the real house does not have a wonderful stone fireplace like the dollhouse does, lol.
